Dolphin FC striker Victor Ezeji has warned his team mates and coaches that the fear of Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, the coach of Accra Hearts of Oak, is the beginning of wisdom.

Dolphin FC are expected to meet the Attuquayeffio-led Hearts, if they get past Equatorial Guinea's Renacimiento over whom they hold a three-goal, first leg advantage and Ezeji says neutralizing the veteran coach's tactics will be the key if Dolphin are to reach the lucrative league stages.

"Attuquayeffio is a very wise man," told news men. "Remember that he won the Champions League before with this same team, and then he won the Confederations Cup again with them. He was also the one who used a group of home-based players to embarrass our full Super Eagles, and then he went to Benin and qualified them for the Nations Cup when nobody gave them any chance.

"The man can lead a group of average players and make them play like super stars, and if we qualify to meet them, we have to respect him," Ezeji told KICK OFF.

Dolphin are led by Musa Abdullahi, himself a former national coach and Ezeji says his boss is no slouch either.

"Musa is a very experienced coach who has won Olympic gold, been to the World Cup and also seen action at the highest level, so I expect him to match Attuquayeffio on the field. The important thing is for us the players to do as we are told on the pitch by keeping our shape and our discipline and not losing focus."

Dolphin FC travel to Malabo on Thursday to meet Renaciemiento in the second leg of their first round qualifying match. The winners of the tie will face Hearts in March.

The Port Harcourt side appeared in the Champions League for the first and only time in 1997 as Eagle Cement FC.